Sooners shocked, Huskers fall, Knight makes history

Oklahoma had seemingly done what Texas Tech had done, come from way down to win a bowl game but then, just as quickly as it seemed the Sooners had a victory, it lost it and lost the game to no. 9 Boise State, 43-42, in overtime in the Fiesta Bowl.

Black and Gold Truth: The Broncos are a big-time program but were not expected to beat OU, even if this wasn't coach Bob Stoops' premier edition of the Sooners. They pulled it off anyway. Promise you, this is a shocking, knockout loss for OU fans. Yes, the program will be strong next season but this is not an easy loss to swallow. The offense, despite some problems, put up 42 points but where, oh where was the defense? The Sooners look liked they had the WAC defenders on the field.

Tenth-ranked Auburn outslugged it with no. 22 Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl, taking the Cornhuskers down, 17-14.

Quarterback Zac Taylor was sacked three times, threw an interception and was held to 130 yards passing, better than his counterpart, Brandon Cox, who only had 109 yards through the air, but it didn't matter as Nebraska's offense was not good enough to match their defense's effort.

With the win, the Tigers are now 33-5 in the last three seasons, better than all schools but USC and Texas. And remember, coach Tommy Tuberville was considered a lock to be kicked out of his job at Auburn until that hot streak.

BGT: Nebraska was competitive but you have to think the people in Lincoln consider this yet another disappointing season due to the Bob Devaney, Tom Osborne standards. Coach Bill Callahan is producing exciting football and big-time recruits. He better start ringing 10 and 11-win seasons together soon or he will be loading up the refrigerator for the next coach.

Off the field...Former Oklahoma State star defensive back Darrent Williams, a second-year player with the Denver Broncos, was shot and killed outside of a nightclub in Denver. Williams, a smallish but explosive playmaker had a solid beginning to his career and had a bright future. His life over at 24.

BGT: When are athletes going to learn to throw parties at their home and hire security to monitor it all, instead of going out where they face crackheads with bigger guns and knives than brains and lives. This wasn't the first shooting or stabbing nor will it be the last. Williams doesn't get a second chance like Joey Porter or Paul Pierce did.

Court News...Bobby Knight did it. He recorded victory no. 880, passing Dean Smith for first on the all-time list, as Texas Tech held off New Mexico, 80-78, in Lubbock.

Jarrius Jackson and Martin Zeno, the Red Raiders top dogs, made it possible by scoring 22 points each. Zeno added 11 rebounds.

Black and Gold Truth: Knight deserves credit and accolades for passing Smith. He may not be a great person on the surface to many of us, but he has not cheated that we are aware of, and his ex-players seem to respect him. That said, I prefer Smith, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, Lute Olson, Jim Calhoun and many others to Knight's antics. This Tech team is going to be competitive with Jackson and Zeno but Knight does not have the upper echelon groups he once had long ago.

Oklahoma falls at eighth-ranked Alabama, 70-55, despite freshman guard Tony Crocker's 15 points and eight rebounds. Crocker is now averaging 14.2 points and five rebounds a game in his last six contests. The Crimson Tide worked the Sooners over in the paint with Jamereo Davidson going for 17 points and Richard Hendrix finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds while the Southeastern boys held 6-foot-11 center Longar Longar to six points.

BGT: Alabama's "bigs" got good shots in this game, something OU opponents will surely take notice of. The Sooners, strong defenders in the past, allowed the Tide to shoot 46 percent from the floor, and four of the five Alabama starters finished in double figures. OU is down in overall talent and it will show in the conference standings.

Buff talent

BGT: What are the chances CU could hold a scholarship open and get a surprise after the bowl season ends and have a quality player transfer in from another school for the 2008 season?

Adam Munsterteiger/BuffStampede.com: There is obviously a chance a player could transfer in, especially a defensive lineman or receiver looking for a better shot at playing time...kind of like what happened with Brandon Nicolas, who transferred in from Notre Dame a year and a half ago. But it's a difficult question to answer.

There have been rumblings that CU will have a handful of transfers out of the program so it will be interesting to see what roster changes are made before spring ball.

One player I'm anxious to watch in the spring is Dan Dykes, who transferred in from Idaho in late August. He was a preseason first-team All-WAC selection prior to transferring out of the Idaho program

Note...The Mike DeCourcy interview is finished and will be posted tomorrow. It was held back a day due to the Big 12 football games being a priority. DeCourcy, a senior writer at The Sporting News, and I discussed Knight, the new age limit for the NBA draft, the Colorado coaching search, in which he had something unique to say, what it will take for the school to get this program up and humming, and we also talked about two basketball books he wrote.